Day 41

Other types of backups available in TSM

Additional Backups in TSM environment

Apart from the regular backup methods using TSM BA Client and TDP Client backups, there are few other backup types available. You can configure these backups according to your requirements and infrastructure availability. The following additional backup types are available in TSM.

Image backup

From your local workstation, you can back up one or more volumes as a single object, image backup, on your system. These volumes might be formatted FAT, FAT32, NTFS, or unformatted RAW volumes. If a volume is NTFS-formatted, only those blocks that the file system uses or smaller than the IMAGEGAPSIZE parameter are backed up. You cannot restore an image backup to the volume that the client is currently running from. Following are the characteristics of Image backups on Windows

• Online or offline image backup will be performed depending on the image type setting in the Include.Image statement

• Can includes file space or logical volume

• Can assigns different management class when used with the backup image command

• The backup image command ignores all other include options

• Image backup types available are  Snapshot for online image backup and Static for offline image backup

Windows snapshot image backup

A snapshot image backup performs an online image backup of a volume while the volume remains active and available for read and write operations. This function is available only if the Tivoli Storage Manager Logical Volume Snapshot Agent is installed and available. You cannot do an image backup of the system drive or the volume that contains the snapshot cache.

To use this feature put the snapshotproviderfs option in the dsm.opt file to enable snapshot-based file backup and archive operations, and also to specify a snapshot provider. Use the snapshotproviderimage option to enable snapshot-based online image backup and also to specify a snapshot provider. Providers include Volume Shadowcopy Service (VSS) and Logical Volume Snapshot Agent (LVSA). If you use VSS, you do not need to install LVSA. 

Windows snapshot image backup provides a non-disruptive, online backup for Windows clients by using the Tivoli Storage Manager snapshot function. Can provide a backup of an entire file system or volume as a single object. An image backup provides the following features

• Faster backup and restore of file systems that contain numerous small files.

• Conservation of resources on the server during backups because only one entry is required for the image.

• A point-in-time logical volume restore.

• Restore a file system or logical volume that is corrupted.

• A baseline for disaster recovery manager by restoring volume image.

AIX and Linux snapshot backup

For Linux86 and Linux IA64, by default, Tivoli Storage Manager performs a snapshot image backup of file systems that are on a logical volume that the Linux Logical Volume Manager creates. The volume is available to other system applications during the backup.

• The snapshotproviderimage option enables snapshot-based image backup, It also specifies a snapshot provider for AIX 5.3 and greater JFS2 and LINUX_LVM file systems.

• The snapshotproviderfs option enables snapshot-based file backup and archive operations. It also specifies a snapshot provider for AIX 5.3 and greater JFS2 file systems.

• You must be a root user to perform a snapshot-based file backup or archive operation.

Setting up Windows open file support

Two snapshot providers that you can use for open file support on Windows are LVSA and VSS. The suggested solution is VSS because it uses Microsoft's strategic snapshot solution. The LVSA is provided for customers that migrate from previous versions of Tivoli Storage Manager, where LVSA is used. LVSA is also an alternative to VSS if there are issues with using VSS.

Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) - Supported snapshot provider on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions, except Windows XP.

Logical Volume Snapshot Agent (LVSA) - Provided for customers that migrate from prior versions of Tivoli Storage Manager, where LVSA is utilized, and as an alternative to VSS if there are issues with using VSS.

Windows incremental image (date only) backup

You can perform incremental-by-date of last image backup, regardless of whether the full image is backed up, by using offline or online image backup. Use the image backup in combination with the regular incremental backups. Incremental image by date backup

• Performs an incremental-by-date of last image backup.

• Backs up files that are changed in your volume after your last image backup.

• Does not mark files inactive on the server for files that are deleted from your client machine.

Logical volume image backup overview (UNIX)

On Unix machines, with Logical volume image backup type

• You can back up a logical volume as a single object, image backup, on your system.

• The traditional static image backup prevents write access to the volume by other system applications during the operation.

• You use the dynamicimage option to back up the volume as is, without remounting it as read-only.

• Corruption of the backup can occur if applications write to the volume while the backup is in progress.

• There are 3 types of images are as follows: Dynamic, Static, Snapshot

Dynamic: Specifies that you want to perform an image backup if the volume cannot be unmounted and remounted as read-only. Tivoli Storage Manager backs up the volume as is without remounting it as read-only.

Static: Performs an image backup during which the volume is unmounted and remounted as read-only. This is the default for AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris. Valid for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, Linux86, Linux IA64, Linux pSeries, Linux iSeries, and Linux zSeries.

Snapshot: Specifies that you want to perform a snapshot image backup during which the volume is available to other system applications. This is the default for file systems on a logical volume that the Linux Logical Volume Manager creates. Valid for AIX 5.3 and greater JFS2 file systems, Linux86, and Linux IA64 clients only.

Network-attached storage (NAS) file system backup with NDMP

When backing up NAS files systems, the Tivoli Storage Manager server uses Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) to connect to the NAS file server. Tivoli Storage Manager uses NDMP to initiate, control, and monitor a file system backup or restore operation. The NAS file servers are essentially backup-ready.

With this feature of Tivoli Storage Manager, you can back up to storage devices without moving the data over the LAN. The storage devices must be under the direct control of the NAS file server, which means that they must be directly attached or connected through a supported SAN environment.

An NDMP backup is usually an image backup because the NAS filer performs the backup as an entity without telling Tivoli Storage Manager about the content. The Tivoli Storage Manager server administers only one image object that is backed up.

Additionally, Tivoli Storage Manager can create a table of contents (TOC) during backup and store the TOC afterwards in a dedicated storage pool. With the TOC, Tivoli Storage Manager can restore a single file from a NAS backup image. Each time a single file restore from an NAS image backup is done, Tivoli Storage Manager loads the TOC from the dedicated storage pool into a temporary database table. You can configure how long to store the TOC in the temporary table. Without the TOC, you can restore single files from a NAS backup image by providing exact information about the single file and the image it is in.

NDMP support is available only on Tivoli Storage Manager Extended Edition.

Although an NDMP backup is usually started and controlled by a Tivoli Storage Manager server, a Tivoli Storage Manager web client can also initiate and control an NDMP backup or restore.

Using the snapdiff option for incremental file backups

The snapdiff option backs up NAS/N-Series file server volumes that are NFS or CIFS attached. Use this option with the snapdiff incremental backup.

• To perform a snapdiff incremental backup from a snapshot of a network share //server.com/vol/vol1 mounted on H: drive, where server.com is a file server, run the following command

   incremental -snapdiff H:

• To perform a snapdiff incremental backup from a snapshot of a network share //server.com/vol/vol1 mounted on H: drive, where server.com is a file server. The -diffsnapshot option value of latest means the operation uses the latest snapshot, the active snapshot, for the H: volume.

   incremental -snapdiff H: -diffsnapshot=latest

Snapdiff option when used with the incremental command, snapdiff streamlines the incremental backup process by performing an incremental backup. This backup includes files that are reported by the NetApp Snapshot Difference API as changed, not by scanning the volume to find the files that had changed.

The diffsnapshot option controls whether Tivoli Storage Manager should create the differential snapshot when performing a snapdiff incremental backup. If the differential snapshot is not created by Tivoli Storage Manager, the latest snapshot on the volume is used as the differential snapshot and as the source for the backup operation.

The default value is used to create the differential snapshot. This option is bypassed the first time the snapdiff option is used. The first time the snapdiff option is used on a volume, a snapshot must be created and used as the source for a full incremental backup. Snapshots that Tivoli Storage Manager creates are deleted by Tivoli Storage Manager after the next incremental snapdiff backup creates. This option is valid for all Windows clients except for IA 64-bit.

SnapMirror to Tape images

Tivoli Storage Manager supports creating SnapMirror to Tape images of very large file systems on Network Appliance file servers. SnapMirror is an option with BACKUP NODE or RESTORE NODE commands. This backup method has limitations. Consider them when copying large Network Appliance file systems to secondary storage for disaster recovery purposes. For example:

• You can use the administration command line to backup or restore.

• There is no NDMP differential backup of SnapMirror images.

• There is no NDMP directory-level backup using SnapMirror to tape.

• SnapMirror-to-tape images do not generate table of contents.

• There is no NDMP file-level restore function from SnapMirror-to-tape images.

Using a parameter option on the BACKUP and RESTORE NODE commands, you can back up and restore file systems by using SnapMirror to Tape.

• At the start of a SnapMirror to Tape copy operation, the file server generates a snapshot of the file system. Network Appliance provides an NDMP environment variable to control whether this snapshot is removed at the end of the SnapMirror to Tape operation. Tivoli Storage Manager always sets this variable for snapshot removal.

• After a SnapMirror to Tape image is retrieved and copied to a Network Appliance file system, the target file system is left configured as a SnapMirror partner. Network Appliance provides an NDMP environment variable to control whether to break this SnapMirror relationship. Tivoli Storage Manager always breaks the SnapMirror relationship during the retrieval. After the restore operation finishes, the target file system is in the same state as that of the original file system at the point in time of backup.

Backing up a virtual environment by using Tivoli Storage Manager

You can backup your virtual environment starting from TSM V6.4.  The features of Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments are

• Utilizes VMware’s vStorage APIs for Data Protection, including block-level incremental backups, based on VMware’s CBT, Change Block Tracking.

• Offloads the backup workload from virtual machines and production ESX hosts to vStorage backup servers.

• Provides flexible recovery options: file, volume, or image from a single pass backup.

• Provides near-instant restore of Windows and Linux disk volumes. Data is available immediately while it is copied in the background.

• Simplifies day-to-day administration with the centralized Tivoli Storage Manager console.

• Provides automated discovery of new VMs, which automatically apply backup policies.

TSM using with VMware vStorage API provides

• File leve lbackup through the datacenter
• File level recovery through the Windows backup archive client
• Full image backup through the data center by using vStorage
• Full image restore through the datacenter

TSM using with Microsoft Hyper-V provides

• Use of Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) snapshots
• Snapshot that contains the entire VirtualMachine ,all files that define theVM
• Snapshot that is stored by using the Tivoli Storage Manager grouping feature

Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments

• File-level restore from full-VM level backups
• Incremental backups by using ChangeBlockTracking(CBT)
• Graphical user interface plug-in

VMware and Hyper-V backups

File-level and full VM backups are scheduled for systems that support file level backup (Windows virtual machines). Microsoft Hyper-V guest backup and restore by using Volume Shadowcopy Service (VSS) provides disaster recovery support for individual virtual machines. These operations also provide the same type of support for a group of virtual machines that run on a Hyper-V server.

• A file-level virtual machine (VM) backup is a file-level backup of a snapshot of all virtual disks of a specific virtual machine (VM) on the ESX server or VirtualCenter server.

• A full virtual machine (VM) backup is a backup of an entire export of a virtual machine snapshot. It is similar to a Tivoli Storage Manager image backup.

Day 40

Taking Archive and Retrieving Files

TSM Archive and Retrieve Functions Overview

Archive creates a copy of specified files and stores them for a designated interval. Retrieve copies archived files from the storage pool to the client node for use. The retrieve operation does not affect the archive copy in the storage pool. 

You can archive multiple files, directories, or subdirectories together. Archiving is processed differently from backup. An archive copy is stored on the server regardless of change status or frequency of backup. Archive and backup each use a separate copy group so that each management class can handle the differences between backup and archive.

• You can group files by description for easy retrieval.

• You can add a descriptive tag onto a file for easy retrieval.

Archives can trigger the deletion of the original file or can make a copy of the original file. With the archiving function you can do the following tasks

• Preserve files for later use or for records.

• Request Tivoli Storage Manager to copy files, subdirectories, and directories for long term storage on media that Tivoli Storage Manager controls.

• Let users choose to have Tivoli Storage Manager erase the original files from their workstations after the files are archived. Do so with caution.

• Use Tivoli Storage Manager to archive packages that identify groups of archived files.

• For UNIX symbolic links, archive the file that the symbolic link points to, but under the name of the symbolic link.

• Use Tivoli Storage Manager to retrieve the directories first, and add the files to the directories.

• Retrieve archived copies from the directory tree.

• Use filters to identify copies from the directory tree.

• Let authorized users retrieve archive copies of files that someone else owns.

When files are archived by using the backup-archive client, an archive description is required. The archive description is a  text field that contains information relevant to the files and directories that are archived. Tivoli Storage Manager stores the archive descriptions in a new format internally in the Tivoli Storage Manager database. 

You can use the archive description to find and identify files and directories without the knowledge of the physical client file spaces that they are archived from. When the archive function is selected from the backup-archive GUI, a list of all previously used archive descriptions is shown. You can use the archive descriptions on subsequent archives. If you do not enter a description, Tivoli Storage Manager assigns the following default archive description

Archive Date: mm/dd/yyyy

The backup-archive client supports archiving and retrieving directories. Directories with associated access control lists (ACL) or trustee rights are archived when the files are archived. They are retrieved when the files are retrieved. Directories that are archived use the same archive description as the files that they are archived with.

Using the GUI to archive and retrieve

The archive GUI has a list of files in the same format as in the backup GUI. Select the files that you want to archive, and click Archive. You can also use the Find function to select files. The Find function has the same options as those to do a backup.

The retrieve GUI looks like the restore GUI. Expand the directory tree so that it shows the client node name, and view the differences that archive packages introduced. When you retrieve a file, Tivoli Storage Manager sends a copy of the file to the client node. The archived file remains in server storage. You can retrieve archive copies from the directory tree.

Using the ARCHIVE command

The archive command (dsmc archive) archives a single file, selected files, or all files in a directory and its subdirectories on a Tivoli Storage Manager server. Directories are archived. You can archive files that you want to keep in their present condition. To release storage space on your workstation, delete files as you archive them. Retrieve the archived files to your workstation whenever you need them again. The archive command has the following options

• ARCHMC: Use this option to name the available management class in the active policy set of your policy domain.

• DELETEFILES: Use this option to delete archived files from your workstation after they are stored on the server.

• DESCRIPTION: Use this option to assign a description to a file when you archive it. If you do not remember the name of an archived file, you can use the DESCRIPTION option to retrieve the file.

• DIRSONLY: Use this option to back up and restore only the directories.

• FILESONLY: Use this option to back up and restore only the files.

When you archive a symbolic link, Tivoli Storage Manager archives the file that the symbolic link points to. It does not archive path information for the directory. If you archive a symbolic link that points to a directory, Tivoli Storage Manager archives the files that the directory contains, under the name of the symbolic link. If the SUBDIR option is set to yes, Tivoli Storage Manager also archives the subdirectories, under the name of the symbolic link.

Using the RETRIEVE command

You can use the retrieve command to retrieve files. Indicate the file that you want to retrieve and a destination. If you do not indicate a destination, the files are retrieved to their original location. 

       dsmc retrieve

You can use these command-line options to archive and retrieve files only or directories only. The default is archiving or retrieving both directories and files.

• DIRSOnly - Archive or retrieve only the directories and their attributes.

• FILESOnly - Archive or retrieve only the files and their attributes.

Day 39

Taking Backup and Restoring Files

TSM Backup and Restore Functions Overview

TSM Client backups generally are scheduled events. Occasionally, you also need to back up objects manually. There are 3 different ways to take the backup of client files.

Backup Overview

BA Client GUI

To start the GUI, use one of the following methods

• On Windows: Either click Start > Programs, or enter the dsm command from a system command line.

• On UNIX: Enter dsmj from a system command line.

• On a web client: Use port 1581 and a supported web browser.

After logging in to the GUI, follow these steps to take the backup

1. Select Backup from the GUI main window.

2. Expand the directory tree to see folders and files.

3. Select objects to back up.

4. Select the type of backup from the Select Action menu:

• Incremental (complete)
• Incremental (date only)
• Always backup
• Incremental (without journal)

5. Click Backup.

While the backup is running, the Backup Report window opens, showing the progress of your backup. When the backup finishes, the window shows the results of the backup.

Using the command line for backups

With the backup-archive command line, you have more options to back up and restore data. More than one method invokes the same command line. Options that are available to this command include DOMAIN, PASSWORD, COMPRESSION, and QUIET/VERBOSE. 

All options on the command line override the options that are specified in the configuration options file except the domain option, which adds to the options file domain option. The file specification filename parameter is different than the -DOMAIN= option. The file specification filename parameter overrides the domain option in the configuration options file.

To take backup using command lineFirst, change directories to the backup-archive client. Use dsmc command to start a backup from the system command prompt or command line. The syntax for the command line is as follows

dsmc action keyword –option=value file_name 

When you run an incremental backup on the command line, the results show the details from start to finish.. For example, to perform an incremental backup of the /home/project/2013/lab24.txt file, use the following command

 dsmc Incremental /home/project/2013/lab24.txt

Alternatively, you can start the backup-archive command line and perform the same command as follows

tsm> i /home/project/2013/lab24.txt

Performing selective backups

The selective command backs up files that you specify. If these files become damaged or lost, you can replace them with backup versions from the server. When you run a selective backup, all the files are candidates for backup unless you exclude them from backup, or if they do not meet management class requirements for serialization.

To back up all of the files in the d:\proj directory, use the selective command as in the following example

   dsmc SELective d:\proj\*

To include all subdirectories for the same backup, use the following command:

   tsm> sel -subdir=yes d:\proj\*

Using the QUERY FILESPACE command

Issue the Query Filespace command from the backup-archive command line to see whether the Last Incr Date shows that a recently run incremental backup finished successfully. The query filespace command shows a list of file spaces in Tivoli Storage Manager storage. You can also specify a single file space name to query.

Restore overview

Restore is the process of copying a backed up version of a file from the Tivoli Storage Manager server to the client system over the specified communication method. Tivoli Storage Manager server sends a copy of the file to the client, but the backup remains on the server. You can use the following options

• Do restores through the GUI, client command line, or through a schedule.

• Restore files to a location other than where they are backed up.

• Restore backed up files to their state at a specific point in time.

• Replace or overwrite existing files with the restored version.

• Select specific files and directories to restore.

If a file is damaged, the user (Tivoli Storage Manager client) can request that the system restore the current or a specific backup version, without the aid of an administrator. A user can restore only files that the user backed up unless the user has authority to access the backup files that belong to another person. If you do not specify a destination, the files are restored to their original location.

When a user restores a backup version of a file, Tivoli Storage Manager sends a copy of the file to the client node. The backup version remains in the Tivoli Storage Manager server. If more than one backup version exists, a user can restore the active backup version of the file or any inactive backup versions.

Restoring files by using the GUI

The Restore GUI queries the Tivoli Storage Manager server for a list of files that are backed up and presents them in the same format as the backup GUI. Select the files that you want to restore.

You can also use the Find function to select files. The Find function has the same options as the Backup GUI, but the Find function looks for backed up files on the Tivoli Storage Manager server. Select the files to restore from the server.

Displaying active and inactive version of a file to restore

To restore a specific version of a file, you must click View > Display active/inactive files. With this option you can able to restore inactive files as well.

Point-in-time restore

Tivoli Storage Manager uses a point-in-time restore to restore a file space, directory, or file to the version equal to or before the point in time. Incremental backups are necessary to capture the fact that files are deleted. Support for point-in-time restore is essential to recover a file space or directory to a time when it is known to be in a good or consistent state. For example, a point-in-time restore eliminates the effect of data corruption or recovers a configuration to a prior date or time. When a point-in-time restore is done, new files that are created on the client after the point-in-time date are not deleted.

A point-in-time restore that includes deleted files is possible when incremental backups run on the client. The server is notified only when files are deleted from a client file space during an incremental backup. Run incremental backups frequently enough to provide the necessary point-in-time resolution. Files that are deleted from a client file space between two incremental backups might be restored during a point-in-time restore.

Restartable restores

If an error occurs in the middle of a restore operation, the user can start another restore operation by specifying the same source and destination. If the restore starts within the restart period allowed, the operation starts from where it left off. If a restore restarts, some files might be restored again. The file restore completion depends on how much of the Tivoli Storage Manager transaction is finished when the error occurs. A restarted restore starts at a transaction boundary as defined by the Tivoli Storage Manager client and server options, TXNGROUPMAX and TXNBYTELIMIT.

To ensure a consistent restore, the client file space that is restored during a restartable restore is locked when a restartable restore operation is in running state. This locking prevents all Tivoli Storage Manager move operations for sequential media containing files from the node or file space. Tivoli Storage Manager client also prevents backup operations that affect data being restored.

Restoring backuped files

The default restore method is the no query method, unless inactive, pick, latest, fromdate, and todate are specified, or it is a restore of NetWare NDS. To force the use of classic restore, use a question mark and an asterisk (?*) in the source file specification rather than an asterisk (*). For example:

c:\projects\2013\?* or /home/projects/2013/?*

Use the following command to restore the c:\projects\lab.ppt file to its original directory

                         dsmc restore c:\projects\lab.ppt

If you do not specify a destination, the files are restored to their original location.

Using the PRESERVEPATH restore option

The PRESERVEPATH restore option is available by using the backup-archive command line. With this option, users specify how to handle directory structures during a restore to a new location. The process creates the lowest-level source directory as a subdirectory of the target directory. Files from the source directory are stored in the new subdirectory. You can specify the PRESERVEPATH restore option with one of the following options

• Partial or subtree: Creates the lowest-level source directory as a subdirectory of the target directory. It stores files from the source directory in the new subdirectory. Subtree is the default.

• Complete: Restores the entire path, starting from the root, into the specified directory. The entire path includes all the directories except the file space name.

• Nobase: Restores the contents of the source directory without the lowest-level, or base directory, into the specified destination directory.

• None: Restores all selected source files to the target directory. No part of the source path at or above the source directory is reproduced at the target.

If you specify subdir=yes, Tivoli Storage Manager restores all files in the source directories to the single target directory.

You can also use the Operations Center to verify or run backups and restores. Open services, and then policies to see Backups & Restores.

Deleting backup data from Server storage

The Utilities menu has several options to delete archive data, backup data, or filespaces. The client must already have authority to delete backup data before the option is available. Update the node by using the following command

update node client backdelete=yes

You must select the delete option first. Otherwise, your current file selections are lost and you have to select the files again. In the right pane, select the backup object to delete, and click the Delete button. You are prompted to confirm that you want to delete the backed up file. You also receive a confirmation when the deletion finishes.

• Delete Active Objects

• Delete Inactive Objects

• Delete All Objects